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Assessment is an information gathering process that enables
teachers to make decisions about students' learning and the direction
instruction needs to take. The primary purpose of assessment is to inform
teaching and improve learning. |
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Unfortunately, depending on whom you ask, the
answer may be very different. For many years assessment in school has been
incomplete, providing only a very limited picture of a student’s total
knowledge. Assessment has been largely diagnostic, used to identify weaknesses
prior to teaching, or summative, used to measure learning after teaching has
taken place. These types of assessment
are still important, but hopefully, assessment today is much more
than tests, rubrics, and giving grades.
Assessment must also be formative, an integral part of instruction. It is an
information gathering process that enables teachers to make decisions about
students’ learning and the direction instruction needs to take. It gives
feedback to students that allow changes to be made to improve performance. The
primary purpose of assessment then is to inform teaching and improve learning.
Much of the confusion teachers feel about assessment comes from mixing it with
evaluation. Evaluation differs from assessment in that evaluation is the
gathering of information to rate, score, grade, judge, or document. Actually
much of what is being called classroom assessment is really classroom
evaluation, and the power to monitor and adjust on the part of both the student
and the teacher is lost. Good teachers must do both: assess and evaluate.
Evaluation alone judges one brief snapshot of what students know or can do. A
complete
assessment plan must include multiple opportunities for
students to demonstrate their learning and attainment of standards using a
variety of assessment tools.
Teachers must move away from thinking of themselves as merely evaluators.
Teachers must become assessors. To think like an assessor does not come easily
or naturally because most teachers assess the way they were assessed
(evaluated, really) in school. Teachers must begin by asking themselves what
evidence will be necessary to assess the core knowledge that has been targeted.
The next step is to fully understand the
principles of assessment to create valid and appropriate
assessments that give teachers and their students important information to
monitor and adjust teaching and learning.
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Congruent
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Assesses the targeted standards/performance indicators/core curricula
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Assessment type (selected response, short answer, product, performance) is
appropriate for assessing the identified declarative knowledge and/or
procedural knowledge
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Provides exemplars of student work in relation to standards/performance
indicators/core curricula
Systematic
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Makes standards/criteria/expectations known to students early in the
instructional process
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Uses multiple methods
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Uses appropriate criteria and procedures for scoring and reporting results
Ongoing
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Regularly provides feedback to students about their learning in relation to
standards/performance indicators/core curriculum
Inclusive
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Enables students to show their strengths and show what they know and can do in
a variety of ways (e.g. Multiple intelligences, learning styles)
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Involves students in self assessment
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Permits accommodations/modifications
Technically Sound
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Is valid
Are the
standards/performance indicators/core curricula taught being assessed?
Does the
assessment assess what it purports to assess?
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Is reliable
Does the
assessment provide sufficient information to make dependable decisions?
Are the
results likely to be consistent from student to student and over time?
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Has clear language
Ethical
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Copyright (c)
2009, Oswego City School
District, Oswego, New York
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